A Beautiful Mind

Chapter 5

DISCLAIMER: I don't own The O.C. or Fox Television. I do, however, own ¼ interest in a Hyundai. So there.

Flinging the bedroom door open, Summer froze in horror at the tableau in front of her. Chino was lying on the bed, with his hair tousled, and his hands up that skank Maxwell's dress.

"CHINO!"

Damn it, why does this keep happening to me? Ryan thought wearily. Can't a boy just cop a feel without getting interrupted? Does no one in Newport know how to knock?……Apparently not.

Tiffany scrambled off of him, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "Um, hi, Summer. What's going on?"

"What is going on?" Summer asked with deceptive calm.

"Um, uh, well, we were just…..," Tiffany stammered.

Ryan sat up slowly, cocked his head to the side, and raised his eyebrows at Summer questioningly. "Did you need something, Summer?"

Damn it, he was so infuriatingly calm, Summer thought. "No, but obviously you do," she said archly.

"Wait," Tiffany said. "Are you two together?"

"No!" said Ryan.

"Yes!" Summer.

"What?!?!" Ryan exclaimed with bewildered surprise.

"Ryan, could I speak to you for a moment? In private," Summer said icily. Tiffany quickly scurried out of the room, belatedly realizing that Summer had just kicked her out of her own bedroom.

"Chino, it's in extremely bad taste to feel up another girl when you came to a party with someone else. Haven't you ever heard of the phrase 'Dance with the one what brung you'?"

"Summer, we did not come here together."

"We walked through the door together, didn't we?"

"Okay, Summer. What the hell is going on with you?" Ryan asked, starting to feel angry, both at being interrupted and for being given the third degree.

"I just don't understand why you feel the need to hook up with every skank you meet."

"Tiffany's not a skank, Summer. And besides, what business is it of yours who I hook up with?"

"Skanky is as skanky does, Chino. As you know quite well, I'm sure."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Ryan asked in bewilderment.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Summer responded.

"Arggghhh! You're crazy, you know that?" Ryan shook his head in frustration. Women!

"Hah! Crazy like a fox," Summer said smugly.

"And again, what the hell are you talking about?" Ryan was incredibly confused by this time. Talking to Summer was like trying to decipher quantum theory.

"I'm not sure but it's important!" Summer responded indignantly, crossing her arms across her chest and giving him her patented glare.

"Listen," Ryan said wearily, "I'm sorry. I didn't realize that you thought we were supposed to be together tonight."

"I thought no such thing."

"But you said….."

"What?" Summer asked innocently.

"While ago, you said that we were together." Ryan was certain now that Summer was off her medication.

"I said no such thing. You've obviously lost your "beautiful" mind, Chino. You may be a big math whiz but you're also a big doofus."

"What the hell?! Why am I a doofus?" Ryan asked with increasing irritation. "And by the way, my name's not Chino, damn it!"

"Well, your name is mud as far as I'm concerned, Chino. Chino! Chino! Chino!"

Ryan advanced on her slowly, debating with himself on the relative merits of choking versus throttling. Damn, but she got his blood up! (And in more places than one.)

"You are a spoiled brat. Somebody ought to give you a spanking," he said deliberately, knowing full well that he would do no such thing - although it sure wouldn't hurt her to think that he would. He'd had about enough. Maybe it was time to teach Miss Summer Roberts a lesson in something other than math.

"Don't you touch me, you big doofus!" Summer said defiantly.

"Alright, damn it, that's it!" Ryan said, lunging at her. Summer quickly sidestepped him and ran to the far side of the room, realizing too late that Ryan now stood between her and the bedroom door.

Ryan paused a moment to decide on his strategy. As his anger cooled, he thoughtfully considered Summer's recent behavior and her completely irrational behavior this evening. Okay, she's jealous - so that must mean she's interested, right? He thought about it for another minute and realized to his dismay that he, too, was interested. Okay, when did that happen? Upon reflection, he decided it didn't matter. Summer was hot and he liked her. Damn it to hell!

Summer meanwhile was backing up toward the dresser, which had numerous breakable knick-knacks on it. Not realizing that Ryan's mood had changed from anger to interest, she snatched up a tacky ceramic cat and brandished it at him.

Ryan, now focused on kissing instead of spanking, made the fatal error of moving in Summer's direction. His quick reflexes allowed him to duck just in time as the ceramic cat sailed over his head and crashed into the bedroom door. As she was reaching to the dresser again to reload, Ryan crossed the room in quick strides and grabbed her wrists. "Geez, you coulda hit me with that!"

"That was the general idea, Chino. Now let go of me before I knee you."

"Don't you do it."

"I so will."

Ryan pulled her up against his chest with her wrists now held firmly but gently behind her back. He looked down at her flushed face. Oh, what the hell! he thought and bent his head down and kissed her. Summer froze and then slowly began melting against him. Oh. My. Gosh.

Ryan's lips moved softly and slowly over hers as if he was tasting her. She dropped her 'weapon' as she felt him release her wrists from his strong grip, now that he felt reasonably confident she was no longer intent on hurting him. Her hands, seemingly of their own volition, moved slowly up his arms until they were locked around his neck. Okay, she'd been kissed before but never like this. It was like he was making love to her mouth. She began to wobble a bit on her high heels and Ryan slipped his arms around her waist to steady her.

Ryan was definitely feeling the kiss, too. He wanted nothing more than to pick her up, throw her on the nearby bed, and screw her brains out. Suddenly, the word doofus popped back into his head. Okay, maintain some control here, Atwood, he thought. Remember, you were going to teach her a lesson. His mind began to drift off again as the kiss deepened but he forced himself back to reality. Yeah, he was definitely going to continue this later but in a much more private place. First, though, he couldn't resist yanking her chain a little.

He pulled his head up and gazed intently down at her. Her eyes were heavy lidded and her lips were full and moist. Come on, Atwood, grow a pair, he thought to himself. Yeah, well, something was definitely growing but that would have to wait for another time. Summer's eyes slowly came back into focus and she looked up into his blue eyes with undisguised lust.

"Summer, " he said softly.

"Yes," she said breathlessly, waiting for his words of adoration.

"Do you mind if I ask Tiffany to join us?" Ryan whispered in her ear, while fighting desperately to suppress the laugh that was threatening to erupt.

Summer stiffened in shock and jerked away from him. Before she could raise her hand to slap him silly, she saw the grin on his face and knew that she'd been conned. Knowing he was joking did not, unfortunately, curb her wrath; instead it increased it exponentially (Hah, there! She knew some math terms after all.)

"You are disgusting, Chino!"

"It's Ryan, remember?"

"It's Assface from now on! But don't worry about it, cause I'm never speaking to you again!" she said haughtily.

"Don't do me any favors!" Ryan shot back.

"I won't!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Summer turned and stormed out the door in a huff of righteous indignation. Ryan sat down slowly on the bed. Okay, he thought, I just screwed myself again - and not in a good way. He flopped back on the bed to contemplate his chances of getting Summer to calm down and quit being pissed off sometime this year. The probability wasn't looking good right now. Kind of like drawing to a straight flush. Maybe he shouldn't have bluffed her. Way to go, Doofus, he thought wryly.